SNP Welcomes Universal Credit Roll-Out Delay

The SNP has given a cautious welcome to reports today that the next stage of the controversial universal credit rollout is to be delayed.
 
The House of Commons was due to vote on proposals to move a further three million claimants onto the universal credit by summer 2019, but this will now be postponed with the Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd seeking approval to move just 10,000 onto the new system.
 
A United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty recently opened a scathing attack on universal credit warning that the system was “mean spirited and often callous”.
 
SNP MP Neil Gray has consistently led demands at Westminster to halt the roll-out of universal credit.
 
Commenting, SNP Work and Pensions spokesperson Neil Gray MP said:
 
“Any pause to the botched roll-out of Universal Credit is welcome, but it shouldn’t have taken this long for the Tories to listen to the SNP and the huge number of anti-poverty charities who have condemned the system.
 
“The roll-out of Universal Credit to areas across Scotland has already seen more people pushed into poverty, debt and destitution - forcing families to rely on food banks and emergency aid just to get by.
 
“Now that the penny appears to have finally dropped, the Tories must now take this opportunity to overhaul the system and fix the problems that have caused so much misery in Scotland and across the UK.
 
“The United Nations by Philip Alston confirmed that poverty is this Tory government’s political choice - the Secretary of State’s head in the sand approach to this criticism is itself a shocking indictment of this government's attitude.

“Any movement to mitigate the worst of the problems that the botched rollout of Universal Credit has caused is welcome, but fundamental reform is urgently needed for those who have already been affected.”

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